Law firm Dr. jur. Martin Happ

Dr. Martin Happ was born on January 17, 1886 in Pleschenin the Prussian province of Posen. He studied law at the University of Erlangen. He was admitted to the bar in 1913.   He met his future wife Sophie Bach in Berlin. They married in 1915 and the couple moved back to the province of Posen in Hohensalza. Martin Happ opened his own law firm there. After the Polish Posen Uprising and the Treaty of Versailles the largest part of the province of Posen was transferred to the re-established Republic of Poland in 1919. Martin Happ, who had German citizenship, was expelled together with his family. He was forced to give up his law firm in Hohensalza and to return a large part of his property there.

From 1920, the Happ family lived in Schönebeck on the Elbe. He opened a law practice at Friedrichstraße 23, opposite the district court in Schünebeck, which he ran together with the lawyer Dr. Brauer. On April 8, 1933, Martin Happ had to submit the declaration of loyalty to the Nazi government required of all Jewish lawyers. From September 1933, he was no longer allowed to work as a notary. In November 1934, Martin Happ also lost his license to practice law. Martin Happ and his family then moved to Berlin to live with his parents-in-law. On March 4, 1943, Martin and Sophie Happ were arrested by the Gestapo. They were deported on the „34th Osttransport“ to the Auschwitz concentration camp and murdered there.